At the beginning of the year I wrote a blog post about some of my quarterly “mini-resolutions” I was going to tackle, and one of them was to print out more of the pictures I take on my phone. I’ve been keeping my word and have printed out a bunch of my favorite photos from instagram (I use Social Print Studio for great square prints!) and have been trying to do a once a month printing of new photos of Jane to send to our parents and grandparents. With all of these new prints on hand, I need a fun way to display and rotate them. I decided to DIY a few photo-stands for these square photos so that I can prop them up on my desk and change them easily as new prints arrive. It’s a super easy DIY, and took me about 30 minutes to complete from start to finish!read more

I love a good DIY project, and most of the time when I get an idea for them I’m starting with inspiration for what the end product is going to look like. Every once in a while though, my inspiration comes from the actual materials I’m working with. An interesting material can spark the thought, “hmm, what can I make with this?” – and that’s exactly how this DIY project started.read more

I have been endlessly eyeing these chic straw market tote bags with gigantic bright pom-poms on them. I scroll through instagram and see them popping up in style bloggers’ posts and on celebrities, but I couldn’t justify spending an arm and a leg on what is essentially a beach bag. I decided to try and make one myself after sourcing some inexpensive straw market totes on Amazon. Making the pom-poms is super easy, but since these were so big and there several of them to make, I decided to finally invest in a pom-pom maker — and it was totally worth the $7. The pom-pom maker made the DIY process go super fast, and I think it created a much more dense, uniform result. After making each pom-pom, I simply used two pieces of the string to tie a pin to the back of each one and attached them to the tote bag (hot glue would work too, but I liked the flexibility of being able to switch around the colors, or take them off all together!). With all of them materials, the whole project came in under $40 — and I think it looks like a million bucks! (If you don’t have a pom-pom maker, follow these instructions to make them by hand).read more

Don’t worry Mom, there are no gift spoilers in this blog post, just a simple DIY idea for a gardening-inspired Mother’s Day gift. We’ve been busy updating the yard and patio to get ready for enjoying our first summer at our house. It’s so exciting to have tons of outdoor space after living in the city for a decade. While I have a well-known penchant for killing even the most durable of plants, I have been wandering the outdoor living aisles at some of my favorite stores thinking about having a garden, and that’s exactly where this idea came from: a Mother’s Day gardening kit. I started with a terra-cotta pot as the base, and filled it in with gardening tools, gloves, and herb and flower seeds; some tissue paper and an oversized burlap bow finish it off! I think this would be such a sweet gift to give your mom, grandma, or mother-in law along with a pretty plant or flowers for her garden. It takes about 5 minutes to assemble, and you can grab all of these items at Target or your favorite hardware store. What are you gifting mom this year for Mother’s Day? read more

I’ve so been busy writing about Cinco de Mayo celebrations this week that I’ve almost let a few last-minutes Mother’s Day DIYs slip by (Mom, I swear we love you more than margaritas!). I created my own mom-customized wrapping paper for Mother’s Day gifts. Start with a roll of white paper — try the craft store for ‘banner paper‘ or a shipping store for white packaging paper — and start scrolling out the word Mom in various sizes with a thick marker. The fun thing about this project is you can be really loose with it, it looks put together because the patterns repeat, but aren’t too perfect or precious (if you have kids give them a try at practicing their writing!). What worked best for me was using the king-size sharpie marker, and rotating the paper to get the writing at different angles. It can be totally customized — does your mom have a fun nickname, or do you kids call her variations of Grandma? Write those on too! When you’re done, wrap up the present and tie it with neon twine — I grab this hot pink twine at the hardware store (or purchase it on Amazon if you’re a prime-addict like me!). read more

When Martha Stewart says it’s time to make something better, you listen up! The team at Martha Stewart Living sent me a little care package this month with a challenge to add a few new tricks and treats to my week, and I’ve been digging in to try them all out! The project at hand was a DIY chalkboard menu, and oddly enough, for a girl that has packed decoupage and glitter in her overnight bag before, I’ve never used chalkboard paint! It’s a DIY mystery how I’ve made it this far without chalkboard-ing something in my home so I was eager to try out these Martha Stewart Crafts products. read more

In anticipation of Easter this weekend, I have two easy DIY ideas for bringing a hoppy little addition to your Easter desserts, bunny cupcake toppers! The first is super simple (the only challenge is not eating all of your supplies before your guests arrive!) — I topped cupcakes with a good amount of frosting and nested bunny shaped peeps on top of the cupcake. Try butter cream or cream cheese because they’re a bit thicker and hold up the peeps. My second DIY bunny topper is so cute with a little pom-pom tail! I drew bunny shapes, similar to the shape of peeps, on blush colored scrapbooking paper and cut them out. With a little bit of tape, I attached them to tooth picks and added pink pom-poms for tails with a dot of glue. You could even make a handful of these and string them together for an Easter garland too! Happy crafting!read more

It’s here! It’s here! My favorite holiday of the year! I know people get all grumpy about New Year’s Eve because it usually involves an overly expensive dinner or a crowded bar, but that’s why I decided a long time ago to throw my own New Years bash and give all my friends the perfect plan for sending out the year in style and kicking off the new one just right. Call me a sap, but I love the idea of starting the new year with my best friends, doing what I love most: entertaining. It’s also one of my favorite holidays because it involves all things glitter and sparkle and confetti-filled. So if you’re hosting your own soiree this year, or need to add a little pop of celebration to a night in watching the ball drop, I’ve got a few last minute DIY ideas you can craft up. I worked on these with Julie of Posh and Prep who lent her expert calligraphy skills to make them a little extra special! read more

After all of the fun we had putting together some DIY details for Thanksgiving, Julie from Posh & Prep and I got crafty and created a few fun handmade elements to add your Christmas parties and celebrations. Julie lent her fabulous hand-lettering to create the easiest place card favor: a classic christmas ornament personalized with gold ink calligraphy in each guests name.read more

I finally feel like we have our first ‘complete’ room in our house after a mini-makeover of our downstairs bathroom. Of course this is the one room in our house that I forgot to take ‘before’ pictures of, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that these small projects made a huge impact on this little space. The bathroom was a dark rust color and had a huge dark wood cabinet on the wall and a beat-up, yellowed laminate vanity. Our first order of business was giving it a fresh coat of paint with a really rich blue color — Hamilton Blue by Benjamin Moore — I love how it looks. Once we started painting, it made the laminate flooring look so dingy and gross, so I made a brave decision to try to tile the bathroom floor myself. I did lots of research online, and got some advice from a friendly sales associate at Home Depot, and managed to do a pretty solid looking job of installing a marbled hexagon penny tile. read more